


The Kids Are Alright

by thecompletebookworm



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Child Abandonment, F/M, Gen, Just wanted to make sure we're all on the same page, Rumbelle and Curious Archer are not present yet, Will be introduced in Ch 4, character tags will be added as story goes on, strongly anti gothel
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-19
Updated: 2018-06-29
Packaged: 2019-04-24 22:52:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,215
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14365398
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thecompletebookworm/pseuds/thecompletebookworm
Summary: Alice Jones entered their family with all the subtlety as a bull in a china shop.  Not the Gold can really blame her, she and Bae are only in high school after all, not exactly criminal masterminds.  Still everything seems to change with her arrival and if a wonderful teacher attempting to help with that just happens to be one of those changes, Gold couldn't be happier.It wasn't that Alice wasn't used to being cared about.  But it had always just been her and her Papa, until suddenly it wasn't.  Now she's adjusting to life with the Golds and being the new girl in school, while trying to figure out why little Miss Popular seems to be going out of her way to talk to her.





	1. Chapter 1

Robert Gold was no stranger to a little nighttime noise. He had a fifteen-year-old boy after all. And while Bae was a good kid, his brain seemed to be in the phase where he ignored common sense and ended up playing his stereo at eleven at night. Today, however, the offending noise was not just some teenage angst mumbo jumbo. Gold heard voices coming from his son’s room. More specifically he heard a female voice coming from the room. 

As Gold moved down the hall, his cane tapping the wooden floor as he went, the voices seemed to grow quieter before he heard the frantic movement of heavy objects and the creak of the closet. He opened the door just in time to see his son make a spectacular jump on to the bed and turn toward the door with his best innocent face.

“Baden Neal Gold, what on Earth is going on in here?” 

The smile faltered slightly as if Bae realized that he had not been as stealthy as he assumed. 

“Nothing just doing homework.” Bae ran a hand through his hair. "You must have heard the radio or Mrs. O'Malley next door.“ 

"Doing homework?” Gold watched as his son nodded weakly and retrieved the notebook that had slid under his bed, while he was doing who knows what. 

“Um, I guess you caught me, Pops.” He gave an exaggerated stretch. "I was just so worn out from soccer practice that I wanted to go to bed early. So, goodnight!“ 

Gold purposely ignored his son’s clear dismal and limped toward the closet. He sent a prayer out to whoever may be listening, that whoever was in the closet was fully clothed and that his son was still too young for romantic endeavors, and pulled open the closet door.

Frightened blue eyes peered up at him from the girl sitting on the floor. Gold couldn’t help but commend her dedication to hiding as she crouched in a pile of Bae’s dirty laundry, a truly horrible place to be. 

"You can come out. I don’t bite.” Gold stepped aside and gave the girl more space. He didn’t think he’d seen her before, because he assumed that he would have remembered her messy blonde hair and oversized raggedy green hoodie. Bae was in high school now and didn’t like his dad breathing down his neck; it was only natural Bae would have friends he didn’t know about. 

“Now Bae you know the rules. No friends over this late on a school night.” 

Gold wasn’t prepared for the loud whimpers from the girl in front of him or the way his son practically jumped out of bed to wrap his arms around the girl’s shoulders. 

Bae looked up at him with pleading eyes. “Papa, Alice doesn’t have anywhere else to go.” 

Gold’s grip on his cane tightened. “Where are her parents?” He already knew the answer to the question before he asked it. He’d seen Alice’s expression before, on his own face reflected in the mirror whenever Malcolm showed up at his Auntie’s house. There was complete and utter terror that she was going to be dragged away once again. 

Alice’s fingers dug into Bae’s arm as if she could force herself to stay here if she just held on hard enough. "I can’t live with my Papa anymore, and Eloise finally kicked me out. So, it was here or the docks.“ 

Gold nodded his head slowly. "Were you able to grab any of your stuff from Eloise’s before it happened?” 

Alice shook her head slowly. "I couldn’t even grab my backpack.“ 

Gold grimaced. "We’ll swing by tomorrow before school. You should be able to grab your book bag and whatever else you might need. Bae, can you help me put some new sheets on the guest bed?”

He moved out into the hallway, giving his son a little time to untangle himself from Alice. He pulled out some blue sheets from the hallway cupboard and handed them to Bae.

“You could have told me.” 

“I didn’t know how you would react. It just seemed like a lot” 

Gold laid a hand on Bae’s shoulder. "I’m your father. I’m always here when you have a problem, especially a big one like this.“ 

"So Alice can really stay?” The hope on Bae’s face made it looked years younger. 

“For as long as she needs.”


	2. Chapter 2

It wasn’t unusual to have to physically drag Bae out of bed in the morning, so hearing his son moving around downstairs and not in his typical catatonic state was nothing short of an absolute miracle. As Gold slowly made his way downstairs, he could hear the water running and dishes clinking in the sink. In short, he was certain he was dreaming. 

That was until he remembered Alice had spent the night. 

She looked like she was feeling better than last night at least, despite not looking that much different physically. Her blond hair was pulled up in a lopsided ponytail and her clothes were crooked. But she looked lighter as she stood barefoot by the stove washing dishes. 

“I’m not about to send you away if you’re not working your fingers to the bone, dearie.” 

Alice whipped around, her eyes widening at the sight of him. She nodded slowly. “I just wasn’t sure… I thought maybe I should…” 

“Why don’t you sit down?” Gold gestured to the table. "I’ve got some jam in the fridge, and tea and toast are easy enough.“ 

He hoped she would actually look at him, but instead just stared at a spot on the table. Gold was suddenly hit with the realization that this was going to be harder than he anticipated. Although looking back at his own childhood, he really should have anticipated Alice to be withdrawn. It had taken him weeks to feel comfortable with his Aunties, not that they hadn’t tried, but it was easy to think things were temporary, that Malcolm would walk through the door at any second. Gold had nothing but his position as Bae’s father to recommend him. He wasn’t exactly the most well-loved person in town. 

"So, about picking up your things-”

Alice didn’t say look up but he could tell she was listening by the slight tilt of her head. 

“Would you rather we leave now so you have time to change before school? We’d probably have to leave Bae here; it’d be quicker than waking him.”

He gave the girl an encouraging smile, as if trying to share a joke with her. But he hoped she knew what he was really saying. Bae didn’t have to know anything that she didn’t explicitly tell him about her home life.

“Or we could wait until sleeping beauty has awaken and head over then? He’d probably be able to help you pack quickly, get everything out in whatever time is given. And a t-shirt of his would be a bit big, but it’d fit.”

Alice’s hopeful eyes met his. "You’re really letting me stay?“

"I was serious when I said ‘as long as you need last night’” He moved away then, forcing himself to put the kettle on the stove and bread in the toaster. 

“But why?”

Thankfully his back was turned so Alice couldn’t see how her voice cracking over the question had affected him. It was easy to push away the real reason, that she reminded him too much of himself. "You’re Bae’s friend. Isn’t that enough?“ 

She shrugged. "It’s not like I’ve even been in town very long. He just sort of decided we were friends and talked to me like I had known him since kindergarten like everyone else.” 

“Don’t tell him this because it will go to his head, but Bae’s typically a pretty good judge of character.” 

“You got me there I guess.” Alice dumped a massive spoonful of jam onto the slices of toast he handed her.

Gold brought over the two cups of tea. "How do you want it? I know most teenagers are more interested in coffee, but it’s all I have in the house. Apparently I still haven’t been in Storybrooke long enough to like the taste of that stuff.“ He squeezed a little bit of lemon into his own tea. 

Alice smiled for the first time since he’d met her. "It’s no problem. I like tea. Papa and I would always drink tea in the mornings. We used to switch cups after adding the sugar and milk. He used to say it was because I knew how to make it just right. But it was probably just to keep me from getting a sugar rush with all that stuff. I have no idea how he could actually drink it.” 

Gold grabbed the milk from the fridge and slid the sugar bowl closer to her. He had missed how her excited voice had trailed off at the end, how even the mention of her Papa could make her eyes light up before becoming even more haunted. 

“So what will it be? With Bae or without to get your stuff.” 

“Without definitely.” 

“I won’t be much of a help what with my leg and all.” He gave a gesture to his cane. “Can’t carry much.” 

Alice took a big bite of her toast as if to avoid responding. "Don’t have much so we should be fine.“ 

As Gold let her finish eating, his mind was already trying to figure out the best time to take Alice shopping.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gold and Alice brave a visit to get her belongings from Eloise's house. Mentions of emotionally abusive parenting.

Gold’s eyes couldn’t help but wander to Alice’s jittery leg while he drove the short distance to her old house. The little progress they had made over breakfast seemed to disappear before his eyes. Alice was rapidly sinking back into herself the closer they got to her old house.    

 “Is five minutes enough time? I’m not certain if I can distract her for longer than that, but I can certainly try if you need more time.”

“Do you know anything about gardening?”

He took one hand off the steering wheel to gesture to his leg. “Never quite able to work my way down into the dirt.”

Alice let out a short laugh. “I guess you can just ask a lot of questions then. The only thing I seemed to be good enough for was weeding her precious garden.” Alice bit her lip, stopping suddenly as if she had revealed too much.

Gold couldn’t blame her. It was hard to admit how much of Malcolm’s loathing had rubbed off in him, how much he accepted Malcolm’s actions because he thought he deserved it, how worried he was that anyone would find out how worthless he was.  It had taken years for him to realize he was worth more than begging for the scraps of Malcolm’s love.   He wasn’t quite all the way there yet either.

But when he became Bae’s papa, held him in his arms, so small and vulnerable, the little part of him that felt empty filled again. He loved Bae with every once of his being, enough to make him forget to loathe himself and being important and loved by Bae was all he ever wanted.  

“Five minutes should be more than enough time. When they took me-When I left Papa’s I didn’t exactly have a lot of rooms for things.”

Gold did not miss the wistful smile on Alice’s face even at this tiny mention of her Papa.  

“It’s this street, left here.”

Gold drove the Cadillac and even before he pulled to a stop. Large maple trees dwarfed the house. Ivy clung to the siding and the garden was overflowing with flowers. It was picturesque, but from the way Alice curled into her seat legs pulled tightly to her chest despite the seatbelt, the perfectly manicured garden was a sign of something much more sinister.  

“Five minutes Alice, you can do five minutes.” The words, the whispered encouragement seemed to be fore her ears only.  

By the time Gold had gotten himself out of the car, Alice stood frozen at the door. It was only when Gold was right behind her that Alice nudged the doorbell before dropping her hands to her side as if trying to take up as little space as possible.  

“I thought I told you not to come back here-“ The women who must be Eloise trailed off as she noticed that she was not alone with Alice, but then quickly recovered, “until after school, darling. You know how I feel about tardiness.”

“It isn’t acceptable.” Alice mouthed along with Eloise. “It just isn’t acceptable.”  

“That‘s right darling.’ The woman ran a hand through Alice’s tangled hair. Alice stiffened under the touch, but Eloise just smiled as if that could make her look like a convincing mother.

Gold coughed from his spot behind Alice. “We don’t have all morning.” He nodded at Alice and she tried to step past Eloise.

“What’s going on here?”  

“Now Mrs.-“

“Miss Gartner”

“Alice is still legally required to go to school, and it would surely give the wrong impression to have her show up without her things.  

“Alice is just forgetful, aren’t you sweetie?” The word sweetie seemed more like a slap than a pet name.   

“It wouldn’t be the first time she’s done something odd at school.”   Despite her words, Eloise still stepped to the side, allowing Alice to squeeze into the house. Gold could hear the pounding of feet up the stairs.

“While that may be, I would hate to give the wrong impression to the sheriff’s office. After all I’m sure Graham would hate to know that someone had been forced to sleep at the docks. And you know how Mayer Mills feels about something ruining her perfect little town.   Do we understand each other?”   Gold flashed a toothy smile the few replacement teeth glinting menacingly.

“I’m afraid I don’t know what you’re talking about. You seem to think I have something to lose from this.” Eloise smiled and flicked some of her red hair over her shoulder and looked down at him. “The poor girl’s mad, completely unreasonable. I would love to have her off my hands. I didn’t want her in the first place.”

“Then why did you take her in?”

“After Rogers managed to screw things up, I couldn’t very well turn her away. What sort of image would that give me? Can you image the gossip? This town is full of small minds, I’m sure you know that Mr. Gold. “

He grimaced and hoped Alice was almost done.

“But I’d practically be a martyr if I couldn’t handle such a difficult child. After all it couldn’t be helped. She’s been living with a murderer her whole life. There are things even the love of a mother couldn’t fix.”

He wasn’t sure what made him make his next offer. Maybe it was the mocking look in Eloise’s eyes, or the whispers in his memories oft he small-minded people back in his village in Scotland. To them he had already been a lost cause, a coward and a con, before he had any chance to prove himself. He wasn’t about to have Alice suffer the same fate.  

"Then you won’t mind, my taking Alice off your hands.”

“What do you get out for this Gold? They always said you were a lecherous old man with a deal for everything, would steal a baby out from under a mother’s nose if it benefitted you. I would hate to say they were right.”

Gold tightened his grip on his cane.   “What I get out of this arrangement is my own business. All you need to remember is that when two parties have something the other wants, a deal can always be struck.”  

“And I’m supposed to believe you just want the brat. Color me surprised.”  

Gold ignored her barb. “I will come by later with the paperwork giving me temporary guardianship.”

Even if Gold hadn’t been practicing law since Neal was born, favoring the more hands off landlord duties and relaxing tinkering in the pawnshop, he still knew well enough that if Alice was staying with them indefinitely, he’d need something from Eloise for the school and god forbid the hospital if something happened.

“As long as you don’t ship her back the moment you realize what a disappointment she is, you have yourself a deal.   Who am I to look a gift horse, especially when they’re taking such a disaster off my hands?”

Alice pushed back Eloise at that moment. Her backpack seemed full to bursting and her pockets bulging with colored pencils.

Eloise plastered a large smile across her face. “Alice, darling, enjoy your time with Mr. Gold and stay safe.” She pinched the girl’s cheek. ”You know how much I worry”

Alice merely nodded before lugging her bag back to the car.

“I’ll be by later with the papers.”

“I won’t be holding my breath.”  

Alice stared straight ahead in the car, seemingly forcing herself to remain unaffected while still in view of Eloise’s house.

They had barely turned the corner when she had returned to the crunched up position she had occupied for much of the ride there. 

“What did you mean by papers?”

Gold wasn’t sure how to approach this. Alice was a teenager, fully capable of knowing the details. Well capable, but he still wanted to shield her from the emotional backlash that was bound to correspond with the announcement that Eloise had been so quick to get rid of her. He hadn’t exactly handled being dropped at his Aunties well, and he was well aware that Malcolm hated him, but knowing he’d been abandoned was something else entirely.  

He settled for the truth. “Papers that give me the right to pick you up from school, l to handle if something goes wrong there, so the school can talk to me I mean, get you medical help if necessary-“

“I don’t need any help. I’m fine. I’m-“

“Alice,” He risked a glance at her, “I’m not saying you need help. I’m saying that in an emergency I want to actually be able to help you. That’s it. I’m not trying to replace your father or control you.   I just want to be in your corner.”  

She seemed to relax at them. “I could use someone in my corner.”

“Everyone does.”

They pulled into the driveway of the salmon Victorian. “Would you like to got inside or do you need a little time to yourself?”

Alice looked at the dashboard clock.  She swallowed before forcing a smile onto her face. “Don’t exactly have time for that. Especially if we want to get Bae out of bed.”

“I can go ahead and do that. You come in when you’re ready. It won’t be the first time Bae was almost late to school, definitely won’t be the last either.”

She gave him a genuine smile.  

Gold pulled himself out of the car. He didn’t want to make things worse for Alice than they already were, there was no need to push too hard, even if he was curious about some of the things Eloise had said about Rogers.   The girl was a puzzle, butt he couldn’t push for more information than she was ready to give. That was the surest way to lose her.  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just an update since Tumblr has been blocked since the last time I was in China and my computer's VPN isn't working, I'm going to try and update weekly on here. If you need to get in contact me, just message me here as opposed to Tumblr.


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